Registration deadline nears

Aug. 4, 2010 at 3:04 a.m.

By Martha Jones

Reminder to intermediate and seasoned genealogists: The Victoria College Continuing Education Department is offering Intermediate Genealogy 102 from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday evenings beginning Aug. 18-19, through Sept. 8-9. The final session for both classes will be Friday, Sept. 10, a day-long research field trip to Austin's Texas State Archives and Texas General Land Office. I will be the instructor.

The five-week course offers research ideas and suggestions with no written exams or grades. Enrollment is limited to 25 researchers per class who understand genealogy terminology and procedures. As course instructor, I will be assisted by friends from the Victoria County Genealogical Society, Guadalupe Victoria Chapter DAR and Victoria Chapter SAR, who will offer students individualized instruction and suggestions for further genealogical research.

Sessions will include information on migration routes/maps, military records, census enumeration, state and federal lands measurements and evaluation/interpretation of evidence. Students will research county records in the Victoria County Courthouse (local field trip), review Texas State Archives and research early land grants in the Texas General Land Office (Austin field trip) on Friday, Sept. 10. Two field trips are included in the course, and students will need to make arrangements to attend both the local and Austin sessions.

For more information and to register for the course, phone 361-582-2528 before Aug. 17. Tuition is $95. Instructions for payment will be given when participants register for the class. All classes will meet in room 203, Continuing Education Center facing Ben Jordan Street near Victoria College Entrance No. 1.

FOREIGN ACCENT SYNDROME Two years ago, a Canadian woman was thrown from a horse and awoke with a Scottish accent. Sharon Campbell-Rayment's speech is now peppered with words such as "grand," "brilliant" and "wee," and she has been left with a tartan twang. The 47-year-old woman is baffled at the results diagnosed as foreign accent syndrome, a condition which can last a lifetime or disappear overnight. "I started to talk with a wee accent. I said to my husband, Doug, that in his midlife he doesn't have to go out and look for a new wife. I just walked through the door."

The Ontario woman added, "Unfortunately, I was wearing a cowboy hat, which wasn't very protective. It just took a second for it to happen. He got spooked and went right and I went left." She damaged both lobes, suffered a concussion and was left speechless for several days. When her speech returned, she had gained a thick Scottish brogue.

Sharon immediately found a recorder and taped her voice so she could listen to it herself. She said: "I was a bit aghast. But my two daughters, family and friends now all think it's a wee bit funny."

Although her ancestors were Scottish, she has never visited the country. Now she believes the injury has proved to be a blessing and adds, "I really don't want to go back to the person I was. I was mad crazy, all over the place, morning till night." Her family and friends love to hear her talk.